Are You Banking Without Protection?

A large proportion of online banking users in the UK are failing to take the proper precautions when it comes to staying safe online, new figures have shown.

A study by security firm ESET has found that almost a quarter of British users surveyed did not appear to have sufficient protection in place – with 11 percent accessing banking sites without any security protection and another 12 do not know if they have any solution in place.

Overall, over half (59 percent) of the thousand consumers quizzed for the survey said that they used online banking services, showing that there is a market for protection.

Insecure?

However the study also found that a worrying 16 percent of respondents will log into online banking portals from any device available. This included four percent of users who admitted to logging in via public Wi-Fi networks, which could potentially put them at risk of being hacked.

“While it’s really positive to see that the majority of Brits do have security software on the devices they bank online with, I still feel concerned for the other 11 percent who could be unwittingly opening up their bank account to attack,” said Mark James, security specialist at ESET.

“It is recommended that all internet-enabled devices have at least some form of security. It is also worrying to see that so many people admit to logging into online bank accounts from any device they have available. This could also open them up to risks as they will not be 100 percent sure the device has any security protection or that is hasn’t already been compromised.”

A recent study by Kaspersky Lab found similar results back in July, discovering that half of British respondents believed traditional over-the-counter banking was safer than going online.

Only a small fraction of users said they followed even basic security measures such as keeping passwords secret, with one in five saying they did nothing to protect their financial data online.

Nearly half of users (49 per cent) said that they felt vulnerable when making financial transactions online, and 54 per cent said they thought making payments offline was “more reliable”, with 46 per cent agreeing that offline banking is the safer option.

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